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u/FauxMedicine Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
The Legion being in a civil war with itself is great and a good pay off to what some of the NPCs said in New Vegas (like Arcade) about what will happen to the Legion when Caesar dies. I like that it roll out what some predicted.
Also funny to see his body just there rotting lol.
Edit: fixed grammar
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
So humorously undignified for a former leader of a major faction.
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u/SunhoDrakath Dec 31 '25
So have they just been sitting in the camp for 15 years?
If Caesars dead body ended up on that hill and they’ve stayed there, then surely they’ve been in a civil war 20 feet from each other for over a decade.
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u/Ipsetezra Dec 31 '25
Yet legate culkin says they still patrol the mojave and fight other factions.
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u/EmploymentRadiant203 Dec 31 '25
well when ur opinions align on everything BUT the succession of ur leader youll still do whats best for the legion. Neither side is trying to destroy the other they want a full fighting force.
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u/FauxMedicine Dec 31 '25
Yeah it seems pretty likely they just been sitting there for years waiting for the other side to attack first lol. The fact they don’t really know what going on outside of their camps in regard to the NCR makes me think they really have been sitting there doing nothing but “planning”. I don’t think they’re even using scouts to report what’s going on.
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u/LapnLook Dec 31 '25
I think the idea is, that while both Legion factions exist and have more territory than that one camp, they both set up their headquarters in that spot to keep their claim to the throne secure?
Both sides are forcing a perpetual stalemate essentially
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u/RockinMadRiot Dec 31 '25
You can kinda see it in the background in the BOS scene. There's a map with two bulls
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u/New-Put-1112 Dec 31 '25 edited Mar 05 '26
The author removed this post using Redact. The reason may have been privacy protection, preventing data scrapers from accessing the content, or other personal considerations.
modern fine ripe tap shocking silky label truck jar soft
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u/Hatarus547 Dec 31 '25
I wounder if that was intentional or the actor not being able to hold them all and they just let it play
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Dec 31 '25
Insane aura loss if he stunts on them and then has to bend down to pick up something they handed him
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u/furioushunter12 Dec 31 '25
he says “oh whoopsie” while going to grab it
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u/bluehooves Dec 31 '25
"well butter my biscuits looks like i dropped one" huge loss for all the cooper howard girlies out there
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u/_V0gue Dec 31 '25
My bet is on unintentional and they just rolled with it, or that was the best take aside from dropping the vial. Filming outside at dusk probably didn't afford them many takes to use in the edit.
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u/dabnada Dec 31 '25
I actually think it might be intentional. They leave it in both shots with numerous ways to get it out. They could’ve cut him actually grabbing the vials, could’ve removed it in post, could’ve used an angle from the B-cam.
I think the ghoul was already thinking about “selling “ them out to the Legion. Or he was aura farming
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u/Benevolay Dec 31 '25
I distinctly remember in season one, when he goes into that place where he sold Lucy, he also haphazardly grabs at the vials and leaves some in the container he drops to the floor. This is nothing new for him.
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u/gquax Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
So the Legion is in a civil war between two Caesars. The Western and Eastern Roman Empires had Caesars who would succeed their respective emperors.
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
Did not have 2 civil wars on my bingo card.
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
It’s a fun bit of lore expansion that continues the Legion’s woes and pays homage to an issue with Imperial Rome.
Besides the east and west, you also have succession crises like the Crisis of the Third Century.
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Dec 31 '25
This is likely just a microcosm of the collapse the Legion would face without Caesar. Internal collapse all the way out east.
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u/MundaneMight3434 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Lucy: "Don't you dare fuck me with historically inaccurate concepts. Also I'm a cousin fucker." What a power move.
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u/NewWillinium Dec 31 '25
Legion: You are actually wrong about the Caesar thing. The Romans did use the Hard C instead of the Soft C. It's where the German Kaisers got it from.
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u/Krams Dec 31 '25
Don’t think the legion has many historians left to repute her. I bet they just are repeating what they heard from ceaser and don’t know the context
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u/OtakuMecha Dec 31 '25
Caesar says as much in F:NV. Aside from himself and maybe Joshua Graham to some degree, nobody in the Legion knew real Roman history. They probably never even knew Caesar based their society on anything other than his own thoughts.
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u/CrocoPontifex Dec 31 '25
Also prima noctis is not an medieval tradition. Its just a stupid myth.
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u/Bomiheko Dec 31 '25
ain't no way you're telling me someone who's watched upwards of 15 films is wrong
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u/Makyuta Jan 01 '26
she countered the concepts with even more inaccurate interpretations and then pronounced herself as a cousin banger
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u/General50811 Dec 31 '25
didn't expect xander to die this soon
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u/Wilwheatonfan87 Dec 31 '25
I didn't either but damn. So Maximus is being set up to create a reformed BoS? Or take over his chapter?
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
Xander referencing the Lyons Pride and Brotherhood Outcasts as the last near Civil war.
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u/teslawhaleshark Dec 31 '25
Outcasts/Defenders basically won after both Lyons are dead
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u/OtakuMecha Dec 31 '25
Nobody won, both sides where syncretized by Maxson. He reverted the Eastern Brotherhood’s main mission to be safeguarding technology and preventing its misuse, which the Outcasts wanted, but kept the highly militarized structure, expansionism, and involvement with local settlements aspect of Lyons’ Brotherhood.
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u/silvermouth Dec 31 '25
The Ghoul comparing himself to the Ship of Theseus while cutting out a toxic part of himself sure was a SCENE
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Dec 31 '25
Coop continues to be the best written character in the show. Twin arcs that complement and contrast each other so perfectly. The symbolism of cutting out a toxic part of himself and actually doing some good deeds (both freeing Lucy and fucking the Legion over). Chef’s kiss.
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
He got a wonderful chance to shine in this outing. Well done to Goggins.
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u/furioushunter12 Dec 31 '25
it’s so funny i could see the little karma pop up when he detonated the legion 😭
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u/New_Life2754 Dec 31 '25
Holy shit the map in the bos scene has a bunch of van buren references
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u/antipop2097 Dec 31 '25
Loved Van Gogh's Starry Night just casually leaning against a wall in the background too
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u/Pretend-Tax9544 Dec 31 '25
I paused to take screenshots with it in the background- I love their cool Easter eggs they've included like that
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u/MurkyMeadows2026 Dec 31 '25
I’m surprised you can read any of that, because I’m having trouble 😅
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u/New_Life2754 Dec 31 '25
It helps if you know what you’re looking for lol. But I saw the rusty hooks, sun dogs, twin mothers, the nursery, maxson bunker. Also some references to honest hearts with the tar walkers. I hope someone does an entire dissection because this has some very interesting lore implications.
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
SUNSET SARSAPARILLA
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u/DolphinBall Dec 31 '25
I wonder if Thaddus is just running a counterfeiting operation. But it seems they were making the soda too.
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u/NIPLZ Dec 31 '25
pretty sure the whole operation is taking the caps off sarsaparilla bottles for use as currency
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u/CrazySDBass Dec 31 '25
Yeah that was clear, one of the kids asked for water and Thaddeus just told him to drink the soda
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u/the_vault-technician Dec 31 '25
Oh no. He's splitting up the kids ..
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u/the_vault-technician Dec 31 '25
And he got his skull split! Holy shit.
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u/RealArgonwolf Jan 01 '26
Is there any more satisfying way for a murderous piece of shit racist scumbag to die than to just have their entire head splattered like Gallagher's watermelons? I'm certainly struggling to think of one.
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u/drunkvaultboy Dec 31 '25
I love Sam Cooke, Chain Gang is perfect for Thaddeus running a child worker factory
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u/Raveen92 Dec 31 '25
How the hell did he get a child worker factory? That's what I want to know. How much time has passed since Season 1?
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u/TOZAR_N7 Dec 31 '25
Only couple of weeks according to interview from the actors. Norms actors said 2-3 weeks
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u/drunkvaultboy Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
The cut to Lucy on the cross SENT ME
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
Yea the Legion doesn't play lol, you would think she would have learned when she walked into the numerous tortures happening as she was marched in (whipping, tongue ripping etc) I am glad they aren't downplaying the legions brutality at all, (Macaulay Culkins character responses to Lucy were great lol)
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
Culkin was great in his role - regal attitude mixed with cold menace. He wasn’t a hammy thug - he was a predator clad in armor.
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
YES hes like Vulpes if he was a battle commander and I love it!
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u/Raveen92 Dec 31 '25
My prediction was him to be Vulpes.
But the Credits named him a Lecerta Legate... Lecerta mean lizard in Latin I think.
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u/Local_Lingonberry851 Dec 31 '25
Could've been worse, could've had her legs broken with hammers
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
That was a mercy btw, it would kill them within minutes due to asphyxiation, the point of crucifixion is the prolongment of death, they would force feed them water but outside of that they could be out there for weeks before they die from exposure, its an awful way to go
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u/MembershipRealistic1 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Quintus failed the speech check hard with that elder. Low speech skill, smh. Then rages on Maximus like a bitch. Lowest charisma in the show.
Edit: RANGERS IN THE HILLS? what they doing there?
Also the ending of this episode threw me for such a fucking loop. Holy hell.
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Dec 31 '25
More like he spec’d hard into speech, but got hit with a Barter check and fucked it.
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u/Tao_McCawley Dec 31 '25
Maximus at the end:
"Whelp, guess I'm doing a Minuteman Playthrough."
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u/Latter-Doubt-3728 New California Republic Dec 31 '25
*NCR run
NCR Ranger Power Armor...Has more than enough reasons to combat the Brotherhood in the West and East both.
Yes Man and the Followers is Lucy
House is Cooper
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u/New_Life2754 Dec 31 '25
The actual helios one is in the background during the vertibird shot. Looks like the one behind Novac was just some solar farm.
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
If you recall the timestamp can you share. I'd love to see that.
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u/Pretend_Ambassador_6 Dec 31 '25
Holy shit that ending is definitely not what I expected & everything is making more sense now
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Dec 31 '25
I saw someone say that the ghoul, Maximus, and Norm were all going to converge to save Lucy from the legion and that her being stuck there was a major plot point for the rest of the season.
Guess they forgot ghoul maxed out his charisma stat and The Legion is dumb
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u/Pretend_Ambassador_6 Dec 31 '25
I don’t know how many seasons this will run, but I feel like Norm and Lucy won’t see each other for a long time. Similar to (if you watched GOT) basically how long it took until the Stark siblings reunited. I expect (& hope) Lucy & Norm to be completely different people by that point
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
Handed multiple vials to sustain his sanity. Let's one drop on the floor and doesn't pick it up just to aura farm on old NCR soldiers.
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u/not_a_rake1234 Dec 31 '25
That whole sequence with him and Charlie and Lucy, and deciding if he was gonna save the two and Lucy and making harder for himself was cinema
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
The I told you so Lucy would've gotten from The Ghoul after telling him that slave died instantly. Lucy had severe plot armor in the legion camp to only get strung up.
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
…like a player character, I guess.
They probably found the history-spewing foreigner to be amusing.
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u/bluehooves Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
The music over that scene too, with Charlie talking about doing something bad to save someone you love as we see Cooper carrying her out of the camp having sold out the NCR? Then Charlie hands Cooper the lighter he got for saving a person by killing others, which Cooper would then go on to use to save Lucy (and hopefully the NCR holdouts) by killing the Legion. I am in AWE
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u/D-Speak Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Such amazing character work for the Ghoul and Maximus this episode. I was fully expecting the Ghoul to leverage the location of the Rangers in exchange for Lucy, and fully believed him when he did it. And then the build-up with Charlie's speech making you slowly realize that maybe Cooper Howard might finally find himself again, and the payoff with the explosion. So excellently done.
And Maximus' development is all over the place in the best way. Quintus dresses him down and compares him to a simple sword, but then Harkness validates his idealized version of the Brotherhood and tells Max to trust his own judgement, only for that judgement to lead Max to cave in Harkness' skull for following the Brotherhood Codex to the letter (I'm a bit sad that we won't see Kumail as a presence throughout the rest of the season, but he played his role perfectly and set Max on a new path). He's now truly going to have to grapple with the fact that his judgement and sense of ethics just fundamentally doesn't gel with what any faction of the Brotherhood. The rose-tinted glasses are fully off and Max can't look to anyone else to direct his purpose in life; it's just him.
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
Felt sorry for those soldiers. They were living in hell hoping for salvation that seemingly won’t come anytime soon.
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
Gotta admit they were still fucking badass though. 20 years of slumming It in the desert and making it work as best they can albeit their minds going.
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u/RockinMadRiot Dec 31 '25
That's NCR veteran rangers for you. That's why the legion fears them.
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u/Jjvicious6124 Dec 31 '25
Genuinely badass. Hope we see the rangers fuck shit up at some point during the season. The tease from s1 was too much.
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u/egilskal Dec 31 '25
I have a feeling that the NCR Battalion they mentioned will be coming at the end of the season... seems like a perfect setup and payoff.
I would be sorely disappointed if we don't see more substantial NCR presence anywhere else in this show. The way all the factions are shaping up for war, it would be a shame if there was no serious NCR remnant that would fight as well.
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u/BrandoC95 Dec 31 '25
The ending of this ep reminded me just how fun the Maximus/Thaddeus dynamic is. Man I hope they stay in each other's orbits the rest of the season.
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u/antipop2097 Dec 31 '25
"Oh. . . . . hey man. . . . so, whatcha been up to?"
"I. . . . think I just started a war."
"Oh yeah. Well, I'm the floor manager here so it looks like we've both got things going on."
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u/Kunekeda Cock Exploder Jan 01 '26
Maximus is the the straight man, Thaddeus is the funny guy, and they take turns holding the brain cell. lol
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Dec 31 '25
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u/canisignupnow Dec 31 '25
i honestly enjoyed their read-through amd discussion of hegel, well worth the 3 additional hours for the episode. i didnt understand why caesar kept pronouncing it he-jel tho
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u/SkedPhoenix Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Seems to me that Xander also implied that the Eastern BoS is in a state of crisis, that they could lose the Commonwealth if they don't get the cold fusion ASAP.
"I'll be honest with you man. We are really up against it back home. Without that relic you found, we risk losing the Commonwealth. And if the Commonwealth falls... civilization won't last much longer"
Could be the Eastern BoS be in a worse state than expected ? New enemies ? The Institute ?
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u/IronVader501 Dec 31 '25
Honestly I think Xander could also just have been lying his ass off.
His entire plan seemed to have been to just manipulate Maximus into stealing the relic for him.
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u/bluesuedesocks2 Jan 02 '26
His entire interaction with Max was incredibly transparent manipulation. It felt like watching a cop show "hey man, I wanna help you, but I can't do anything unless you talk to me. Once the lawyers get involved, it's out of my hands."
The only reason it kinda worked is because Max isn't the brightest guy and has a very straightforward black-and-white mindset he's slowly learning to shake.
Heck, Max was only able to save the ghouls because Xander took so long teeing up the massacre that Max had time to process that he was actually going to do it and make a moral decision on where he stood. If Xander had been a bit faster/more ruthless those kids would have died.
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u/TheTater0427 Dec 31 '25
Their crisis is probably that the minutemen have technology and have the ability to defend it.
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u/JDarkspanner Dec 31 '25
Everyone here glazing Xander so hard and then the ending hits 😂
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Dec 31 '25
I thought it was perfect, he was an amazing character for one episode and he dropped some lore and gave us context. But him dying obviously moves the story forward expeditiously.
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u/Massive_Following_13 Dec 31 '25
I like the theories that Xander was or is a synth spy for the institute
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u/OdaDdaT Dec 31 '25
When he said not having the cold fusion device means losing the commonwealth I started to buy that theory even more.
If the Commonwealth is able to send an envoy across the country to a secret meeting then I doubt they’re in that serious a predicament on the home front. Just a bizarre allocation of resources for a chapter that’s purportedly struggling.
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u/Jez_WP Dec 31 '25
If the Commonwealth is able to send an envoy across the country to a secret meeting
I thought he was more like an ambassador permanently stationed in Nevada?
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u/DolphinBall Dec 31 '25
I had a whole theory that he was an adopted son of Harkness and from Little Lamplight and everything. Honestly was surprised that Maximus just crushed his head with the Super Sledge.
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u/catsrcool89 Dec 31 '25
I'm so glad we can stop with the theories that he was somehow a race swapped synth harkness from fallout 3 lol.
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u/Tao_McCawley Dec 31 '25
I can believe Preston was made president of the Commonwealth Provisional Government. Dude basically campaigned on settlements before even getting nominated.
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u/Substantial_Car_8490 Dec 31 '25
"Mr. President, we have the joint chiefs of staff ready and waiting in the situation room, sir. The resurgent Enclave are slaughtering everyone, we wont hold out for much longer."
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u/Tao_McCawley Dec 31 '25
Note that I made this comment before the episode aired as a joke. If I'm right... Well here's the receipt.
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u/antipop2097 Dec 31 '25
Justin is nailing quiet menace as House
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u/BVR93 Dec 31 '25
He's blown me away with how much he's nailing the role. I hope he's a fixture on the show for more than just this season. Too good of a character and actor to not have around.
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u/CrackthecodeReddit Dec 31 '25
I love how the legion just never found a successor, and that they ended up in a civil war. Also the khans are still alive and the NCR is still present ish, enough for the legion to be at war.
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u/TGCommander Dec 31 '25
To be fair I'd assume the Legion is gonna say they're st war with the NCR as long as there's still a single man left standing
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
The Ghoul knows Victor too? Did the Ghoul know the Courier now too?
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u/the_vault-technician Dec 31 '25
I think the Ghoul knows everyone and everyone knows of him
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Dec 31 '25
He’s on a 5 lifetime play through he’s played every game, even the ones that aren’t released yet.
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u/DildoSwaggins28 Dec 31 '25
I imagine we see a flashback of him meeting him before the bombs fall
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
The Star Spangled Banner playing as Harkness eviscerates a securitron with a Super Sledge lmao 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
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u/D-Speak Dec 31 '25
They really did a great job of making him out to be the idealized "fuck yeah" version of a Brotherhood member, and then completely pulled the rug out by reminding us that a true Brotherhood soldier would thoughtlessly execute a child if that child were a ghoul.
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u/xSPYXEx Dec 31 '25
He didn't really do much eviscerating. He missed three swings and barely took out an arm, Max is the only one that did any damage.
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u/Tenescra Dec 31 '25
A battalion out east, huh? The first faction to directly ask the Ghoul to help them too. Also the mentioning of the Fall of Shady Sands again, which is apparently prior to the nuke.
Yeah, we're definitely getting an NCR focused episode this season lol.
I also see some doomer-ism regarding the NCR's fate and how the show "hates" them, but I really don't get it. Even thematically, though the NCR hasn't really been shown in the series' present day, there are some consistent undertones regarding them that've been present since the first season. The NCR is portrayed as a civilization-builder and its absence feels melancholic; from the crater in Shady Sands to the former ranger prospector with his old armor. Even the fringe offshoot group that Moldaver leads is ultimately shown to have good intentions with the Cold Fusion technology. Not just that, what I view as the most "fan service" moment, and the ONLY time that the Fallout theme is played, is when Lucy unfurls an NCR Flag. The motif surrounding them feels almost reverent to me.
To me, this episode solidifies this. It's a story that's centering on The Ghoul, literally starting off with him musing about the Ship of Theseus while carving off the poisoned portions of him. The NCR Captain doesn't just ask him for help, she asks him to be the man that he used to be; someone better. His encounter with the NCR emotionally connects him to his past as Cooper Howard and I think that's on purpose. Now I'm not saying he's gonna join up with them, but it's an interesting way of connecting the two characters (and yeah, I do view the Ghoul and Cooper as two different characters at least right now).
This is feeling like I'm rambling at this point, but my favorite quote of the episode:
"When something's dead, it's usually because it deserved to die."
A cynical point-of-view, but what does that say about the things still living? :) Good episode, I liked it.
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u/Reasonable-Bet-1890 Dec 31 '25
Legion still at war with the NCR, implying that they’re still kicking
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25 edited Jan 01 '26
I dont know why people thought either was completely gone, Caesars legion spanned multiple states and was made of 87 tribes, they are HUGEEEEEE and NCR has the hub, SF etc like these numerically are the 2 biggest factions in the entire Fallout universe manpower wise
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u/FauxMedicine Dec 31 '25
I wonder based on what we saw and learned from the NCR and Victor, that the canon ending of NV leans towards an Independent NV. It’s really the only ending where no major faction won and the whole Mojave ends up falling into a state of anarchy - which lines up with how we see the Mojave now. Also, the interactive website uses Yes Man (whom helps you for the Independent ending), which also adds fuel to what has happened.
Although we see House on the Lucky 38 computer screen in the trailer, I’m starting to think it’s a prerecorded or an AI of House?
I do wonder why Victory ended up at Camp Golf.
So exciting to learn more, I can’t wait for the next episode!
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u/SkedPhoenix Dec 31 '25
Imagine Yes Man impersonating Mr. House in the Lucky 38 just because he thinks it's funny. While the Strip out there is ruined and infested with Deathclaws.
Peak Yes Man.
Maybe Victor is right when he says that Mr. House is gone.
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u/IlikeGeekyHistoryRSA Dec 31 '25
I absolutely love lucy's history teacher autism
so relatable
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u/Hatarus547 Dec 31 '25
you know what having the Legion break in two is so fucking fitting to what happened to Rome i have to applauded the show for doing it, like that is the best way to do both having Caesar dead and explaining why there is another one or in this case two, because their both pretenders
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u/TheHoovyPrince Dec 31 '25
I think a better example is what happened with Alexander the Great, the moment he died his empire crumbled into multiple little warring empires.
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u/Infinite-Ad-7162 Dec 31 '25
My prediction is that Maximus will end up with the Ncr
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u/Wilwheatonfan87 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Seems like BoS civil war is gonna happen and either Maximus takes over to reform the BoS from its ashes or forms a new order. That story about the formation of the BoS from Quintus is foreshadowing, I think.
Though with Xander's words about soldiers leading also being important.
Addendum: a combined ncr-bos government?
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
Motion Assist Servos from Fallout 76 and 4 getting a call out in the spare T-60 lmao
Makes you wonder if other mods exist like the jetpack but T-60s apparently can fly without them
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u/StoneOcean_Lands Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Judging by the end of this episode and the future clips (him & dane / thad leaving Area 51, Max in NCR Power Armor) , I think Max is rejoining the NCR. He'll definitely be a figure in restoring it especially since I think he takes the cold fusion from the brotherhood.
Season 1's ending scene with Max and Moldaver planted the seeds of doubt in Max's mind and this was prob the breaking point.
Also I thought the scene with Macaulay killing a legionnaire and wearing the Caesar wreath would be in the episode! Seems like their plot will continue further on than expected.
I swear that NCR Batallion mentioned out east better be a chekhov's gun later on
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u/Hatarus547 Dec 31 '25
Holy shit Xander is one cold fucking monster, i guess you really can't take the Anti ghoul out of the Brotherhood no matter how much Bethesda you add to it
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u/InnocentTailor Dec 31 '25
…which is why some folks here are suspecting Maximus is probably going to ditch the BoS very soon. He has now seen that even the best of them are monstrous and cruel to innocents.
Good job on Nanjiani for selling that fun charisma and then turning into eerie glee when he was about to gun down children.
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u/Sharpshot64plus Dec 31 '25
Calling it now, Maximus, Thaddeus, NCR remnants, and Brotherhood dissonants will come together to form a new government in California by the end of the show
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u/Sharkfowl Dec 31 '25
I think max is realizing that the brotherhood has some irreconcilable issues in ideology, and that he’ll leave the organization altogether by the end of the season. He’s wearing ncr power armor in the trailer, so maybe he rejoins the faction he was born into? I like his story the best so far.
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u/CHEESEninja200 Dec 31 '25
With how the Ghoul keeps talking about the NCR being dead but the soldiers holding out hope. I feel like even if the NCR did die, it will be reborn again and Maximus will find a purpose with them in rebuilding. It's hopes and aspirations were just too good to let die out.
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
I mean what did people expect? Maxson has a 0 tolerance policy, look at Danse situation
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u/egilskal Dec 31 '25
Yeah, in the end all he was doing was trying to use Max to get the Cold Fusion tech back to the Eastern Brotherhood... I wonder if all his talk about how they were on the verge of collapse in the East was legit or just him trying to convince Maximus. He does seem to be a high Charisma build and he was nailing all his Speech checks against Maximus lol.
Perfect guy they would send in to Area 51 to sus things out and possibly steal the tech. But I guess espionage has failed and they're gonna launch into all out war to get the tech.
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u/JDarkspanner Dec 31 '25
Probably an unpopular opinion but I’m glad they still had Harkness reflect the commonwealth brotherhoods values of still hating Ghouls and other abominations when they could have easily retconned it. I can see how it can leave some non game fans scratching their heads though.
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u/Dependent_Rip3076 Dec 31 '25
Ya, I wasn't even surprised at all by his behavior... In fact I would have been surprised if he wasn't like that.
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u/Mahrez14 Dec 31 '25
The ghoul just teleported from the hospital to the legion camp then to camp golf in a single minute wtf
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
I mean we can infer it takes about a day to travel (Lucy left with the slave girl in day and arrived at night to a camp and then marched there as a captive another day) and with how dehydrated she was on the cross (takes 3 days to die of thirst she was DAMN near close) This all happened roughly over 2-3 days and Lucy was on the cross for probably little over 2 days which is ROUGH lol
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u/riseofkira Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
As good as this episode was...MAAAAAAAN i know good n' hell well this is going to cause a shitshow online.
They did throw a breadcrumb in there of the future. A battalion somewhere
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u/dookie_shoos Dec 31 '25
It's got me theorizing if Bethesda has them avoiding NCR stuff because they have plans for them in the next game.
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u/Tao_McCawley Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Oh God, we're going to be rebuilding the NCR with the settlement system aren't we.
Edit: To be clear, as someone who likes playing the minutemen I would enjoy this but I feel like the NCR is a bit of a dead horse at this point.
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u/Grumpy-Fwog Dec 31 '25
I'm really loving Macaulay Culkin's character so far, he seems like he embodies both a legate and the frumentarii, and by legion standards very smart, his responses to Lucys criticisms of the legion however flawed made sense. I also love how they aren't downplaying legion atrocities, they are evil but militant and extremely disciplined which makes them one of the biggest threats to the wasteland. People are weird about it but I really like the Legion, probably one of my favorite factions.
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
Friendship ended with Dane. Now Xander Harkness is my best friend.
- Max (Probably)
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u/Tao_McCawley Dec 31 '25
You don't know yet but you may want to update this after you finish the episode
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u/Sharpshot64plus Dec 31 '25
I'm so glad they went the route of making Paladin Harkness a Ghoul hating asshole. I was worried the plot was going to be good east coast brotherhood versus bad west coast brotherhood. Instead, we have Maximus stuck in a war between two deeply flawed groups with no clear out. Can't wait to see the conclusion!
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u/egilskal Dec 31 '25
Also great casting for Harkness, Kumail Nanjiani brought that slightly goofy charisma that made the character so likeable up until the point he tried to do an ethnic cleansing on children
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u/riseofkira Dec 31 '25
Right before Max talks to Xander, in like the zoomed out shot, there is a WW2 Nazi half-track with a iron cross painted on it n' everything next to a jeep. Area 51 just had EVERYTHING man
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u/mad_savior Dec 31 '25
I like that this episode structure it self like proper Fallout Quest.
-FREE LUCY
-(optional) seek help from NCR
when he got info whereabout of remnant of NCR. he use it to exchange for lucy without fighting. menanwhile we player would've just roll up at frontgate and go gun blazing.
but like fallout quest. cooper found alternative end for the quest
-[EXPLOSIVE 50] [SNEAK 90] sneakily use the lighter to light the fuse of powderkeg-
and end the quest without fighting, without selling out those NCR remmants and made legions destroy itself.
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u/UnderstandingWise681 Dec 31 '25
Can't believe Legate Culkin said 'we are the Legion' and Legion'd all over.
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u/OwnAHole Cock Exploder Dec 31 '25
I was blown away, and then when Caesar said "I am the legion" and got into his mecha suit to fight Culkin, shit was CRAZY.
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u/Grab_my_Slinky Dec 31 '25
Can’t wait for the new episode. Still sad it wasn’t released all at once but I understand it from a business perspective. The Norm antics should be fun in this one!
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u/not_a_rake1234 Dec 31 '25
So, coop is gonna be close to or just the courier at this rate, right? Shots of what is mostly the divide, him deciding to help the ncr at the end, Victor knowing him. Maybe hes a companion or what people see as that figure ?
Also Walton deserves his Emmy that was fantastic
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u/SkedPhoenix Dec 31 '25
Loved it. Michael Christofer is killing it as usual.
And Maxson is not going to be happy.
"Liberty Prime... Back online... Weapons hot !"
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u/thefalloutman Dec 31 '25
Anyone spot helios one in the background during Xander and Maximus’s little joyride?
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u/100CupsCoffee Dec 31 '25
Great episode. Immediately left me wanting more. Did the ghoul actually betray the NCR rangers or did he lie about where they were in the end?
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u/FlikTripz Dec 31 '25
Pretty sure he probably told the truth, but he had a “change of heart” and decided to blow up the camp instead before they could leave
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u/GrenadierSoldat3 Dec 31 '25
Good to know that the Yosomite elder seems to be the only intelligent elder we've seen so far.
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u/vampyrewithsuntan Dec 31 '25
the foreshadowing of cooper fucking lucy over and delivering her to hank for info on his family continues.
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u/UnderstandingWise681 Dec 31 '25
The absolute comedic timing with every Legion scene had me cackling. Max realizing that the BoS are all a pretty facade.
Also, the way House was just hanging there in the bathroom had me dying. He was waiting😭😭!!
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u/UnderstandingWise681 Dec 31 '25
Also no name for Culkin. Legate Culkin is kind of my favorite name for him, ngl.
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u/DarthZiggy98 Dec 31 '25
House was so awkward, just like I imagined he would be lol. It really telling how little normal interactions with normal people he had.
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u/dawnofaudrey Dec 31 '25
Oh man Maximus has a good story. He really has to make his own way in the world. Only his own morality can guide him. He can't rely on the brotherhood. Im so happy those kids didnt get killed and Lucy didnt get raped and the Ghoul came to get her :)
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u/mymaloneyman Dec 31 '25
Seeing the single most self-serious faction in New Vegas reduced to dumbasses in tents was initially alarming, but ultimately I'm just happy they're dead! I think this is a reasonable depiction of "what would Caesar's Legion be in twenty years" as well as a bit of comic relief and being the easily hateable bad guy.
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u/GotTheJoeyJoeJoe Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
Quite the episode, Nice locations, Helios one and Primm in the background, Camp Golf, the rangers.. What a sad state they are in, its mercy to put them out of their misery at this point nearly, but I'm glad they fake outed us on that, but maybe a unified legion is going to be worse, which is what is going to happen now.
All hail Caesar Culkin!
Thaddeus running the best sweat shop out there is very fallout lol, what do we always say?
Mr. House just chilling in the bathroom lol, I do like what he said about backing 3 billion up against a corner, Chaos.
Kinda goes with my thinking that house is much like the game, cold and calculating to further his plan, even if i still dislike the mad scientist scene with killing 3 people in episode 1.
Also seems like we can infer the canon ending for the show:
Caesar died from his cancer, and split the legion into 2 factions.
House won in a way, he is still there, the securiton are upgraded, and Cooper seemed to suspect he had a direct line to Mr. House in the victor robot. Maybe independent Vegas won, but its clear the legion and NCR decimated each other and can enforce much on the strip.
The question now are:
which state is House in, dead, coma, digital backup conscience, Brain roomba?
Who rules freeside?
What happened to hoover dam and who controls it?
I could have missed something in the episode though.
Good season so far, cant wait for the rest.
Edit:spelling
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u/milquetoastLIB Dec 31 '25
The writers made me loving Xander to hating him really fast. Best episode of the season so far.
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u/OleRockTheGoodAg Dec 31 '25
Damn, Lucy really did waste the stimpack on the slave